(64) The New Normal Church, Part 1: Near Term

    (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for The New Normal Church, Part 1: Near Term, originally shared on November 12, 2020. It was the sixty-fourth video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

   What adjustments has your church already made during the pandemic? What kinds of further adjustments will we need to make in order to be ready to continue faithful ministry when pandemic is over, and beyond?

   I mentioned last time that Pfizer had announced that the end phase of the trials for their vaccine has pointed to a 90-plus % rate of effectiveness, and that it could roll out next month. Health Care professionals, first responders, people in nursing homes, and people over 65 and/or with underlying health conditions will get the vaccine first, which will be delivered with two shots 3 weeks apart. Then, everybody else. That’s huge, and it’s a very hopeful sign. Too, hopeful, maybe, as health officials are concerned that this good news will result in a relaxation of the precautions people have been taking, and, a spike in cases and deaths.

   Ten million people have been infected with the virus in the United States, and 1 million of those were infected in the week prior to last Tuesday! Cases in California are up 42% in the past week.

   And, we are headed into colder, wetter weather and into flu season. (I got my shot yesterday. Please get yours asap.)

   Millions of people got a texted alert a couple days ago in LA County that new cases of the coronavirus were spiking, and to ramp up the well-known precautions.

   The gradual re-openings of public facilities are now going backwards.

   What does this say about how long we will be staying at home, wearing masks, relying on Zoom, fearing other people, and so on?

   What implications does this have for the future of the Church? What will the “New Normal” likely to look like, and how can we adapt for faithful ministry as the Body of Christ, the Church, in this world, particularly in the LA area?

   I want to share a few thoughts that have been rattling around inside me, as a life-long Lutheran Christian and as a pastor for more than 40 years. I serve on a number of synod leadership boards and committees, and I think about where we are going a lot.

   Next time, I’m going to reflect on how the means that we use to conduct our ministry, like buildings, seminaries, curriculum, and so on, will change in order to thrive in the “new normal” for the church. In the following session, Part Three, I will share what I think are the implications of the needed changes for future development. But today I will focus on the relatively near term (or, “short term”, but I like “near term”, as a phrase for “getting near to birth”), the changes that will happen either because external circumstances require them, or because we are already headed in that direction.

   Of course, no one knows what will happen after the pandemic but God. We may see an influx of people hungry for community, both new and former members of the church. We may see formerly faithful members not coming back, and the trends we saw before the pandemic continue.

   All we can do now, however, is to get ready by preparing to be the church God has called and equipped us to be.

Part 1: Changes in the Near Term (the first 5-7 years after the pandemic)

   I am optimistic about the presence of the global Christian Church, the faithful proclamation of the Gospel, and the creative and empowering presence of the Holy Spirit among Christians of all kinds in the LA area.

   Paul, here, confesses Jesus as the promised Messiah, and Jesus here speaks of this confession (for Protestants) as the foundation of the Church, the Body of Christ:

*Matthew 16:15-18

   I am also quite certain that, over the next two videos or blogs, there will be enough here to make everybody mad. Nevertheless, I hope you will hear me out, and give serious though and prayer to what I am suggesting.

   The changes I propose will need to be done in light of two realities: the fracturing of our Church into various self-interest groups that will fight to maintain their current identity and power, and the utter disinterest in many of our churches in doing evangelism in a way that people come to live in faith and our churches grow.

   Because of the second reality, we focus way too much of our time and attention on the first. That is, because we are not really interested in sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ for the world, or in providing the attention, mechanisms, value, and funding to develop first generation Christians in our increasingly secular society, we focus on social services, being a nice family church, maintaining a choke hold on power locally, and providing entertaining and pandering worship.

   What kinds of changes will need to be made? The church structure with which I am most familiar of my current one: the congregation, then a group of around 10-12 congregations called a conference, then a group of around 100-120 congregations called a synod, then the national church expression or denomination. A congregation is served by a pastor, a conference by a dean, a synod by a bishop and the national expression or denomination by a presiding bishop.

   First, we will first need to ask ourselves, “What is the bare minimum of staff needed to accomplish the ministry that we have been called and gifted to do by the Holy Spirit, or, maybe I should say, that we are willing to do.

   Second, I think that the Church, at every level will become more local and less hierarchical.

   I think that synods will become primarily administrative in nature, not pastoral. Pastoral functions will be reserved for the deans. In this regard, and others, the office of dean should be strengthened to include that of “applier of resources”, and empowered to handle issues brought to them by pastors and congregational leaders, bringing only the issues that  they are unable to handle to the appropriate synod staff or, as a last resort, to the bishop. I think that the deans will be drawn from among the larger congregations and/or those with a proven track record of receiving and nurturing First Generation Christians in each conference and, considering their additional responsibilities, should be reimbursed with a nominal stipend from the conference budget. (The conference budget will be supported by congregational mission support, particularly if the synod choses to rely primarily on endowment funds for its mission, separating and further distancing itself from the congregations.)

   Third, I propose that 100% of the proceeds from any congregations that close, and we are currently seeing one or two close each year, be set aside for future ministries and allocated based on visionary leadership and existing or promising congregational growth.

   Fourth, as the hierarchy flattens the reduction in synod staff should be accompanied by an accompanying reduction in services provided to congregations by the synod. It is not right to expect fewer people to do the same work. Some of these services may be taken over by the conferences. I believe that it will come as no surprise to anyone that lower mission support to the synod results in lower services from the synod, especially when it looks like churchwide expression of the church is reducing services. This will have to be handled extremely carefully since, as Rev. Robert Schuller said before things fell apart for him, “No one invests in a sinking ship.”

    The congregation will be the place where the most transformation will take place, particularly with regard to our current “utter disinterest in doing evangelism”.

   Whether our motivation is to encourage others to receive God’s gift of faith and so be saved, or whether we believe that everybody will be saved but want to invite people to know the joy of what God has already given them, the imperative is the same, if not the urgency.

   In addition, I believe that most people understand that the only way to avoid cuts to our budget is to raise revenue. Increased number of people coming to Christ and participating in the life of our congregations generally results in increased revenue.

   These efforts have in the past been dismissed as an unseemly emphasis on “bodies and bucks” or “nickels and noses”. Our new realities will need to include a different perspective on evangelism and congregational development and recognize them as basic to our nature as a Christian church, something that nourishes, transforms and flows naturally from the Christian life, like Streams of living waters, a Biblical metaphor for the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

   Next session, we’ll look at how the means we use to conduct ministry in the new normal will change. Join us to do the hard work now and be ready for the New Normal Church.

[***What do you think?   What do you think will or should be the changes we will see in the church in order to adapt to the New Normal after the pandemic is over? Share your thoughts in the comment section below and we’ll respond to every one.]